The story behind your SFGate screen name …

I feel bad about all the inside jokes on this blog. We’ve been around for almost four years, and I’m guessing that newcomers must feel like we’re speaking in code half the time. I feel especially bad when I’m among the people who don’t get the inside joke. So I thought this might be a good time for people who comment here to explain the meaning behind their SFGate screen names.

theswca.com

This is Red Five. I’m going in …

Some SFGate screen names, especially from commenters who frequent The Poop, are instantly obvious to me. I’ve seen several references to “Star Wars” over the years, which I always appreciate. Others are fairly self-explanatory. My wife, for example, goes by OaklandMom. No need to elaborate, unless we move to Alameda …

But still more SFGate screen names are a complete mystery. This includes people who comment nearly every day, and whose names I know for real from e-mail exchanges. The posters who contribute mostly negative comments are equally intriguing. A few months ago, I actually looked up information about the Decembrist revolt, although I’m still not sure what it has to do with hating parents. Based on the contents of his/her comments, I’ve always figured that “pacificat” must be a foreign word — maybe Portuguese? — for “Hartlaub is a douchebag.”

Please include the meaning of your SFGate.com screen name — bonus points if you also explain your avatar — in the comments. (I’ve done this below, although mine isn’t very interesting.) This is not some kind of trap. Don’t explain if you think it’s going to reveal too much personal information to the masses. We’re all entitled to an inside joke, even if it’s just with ourselves …

Waiting for Giraffey to blow out the candles …

PeterHartlaub: Long before The Poop started, when SFGate started including comments with Chronicle stories, my screen name was WorldBHartlaub. This was a tribute to one of my all time favorite Golden State Warriors, Lloyd Free, who legally changed his name to World B. Free. At some point I decided no one would take me seriously as WorldBHartlaub, so I changed my screen name to my full name. And added an avatar of a giraffe in a party hat …

PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder of this parenting blog, which admittedly sometimes has nothing to do with parenting. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peterhartlaub.